Distortable circle tire



April 13, 1948 J. v. MARTIN 2,439,742

' DISTORTABLE CIRCLE TIRE Filed Jan. 24, 1944' 5 sheets-shew@1 muuu f @hpril 13, 1948. J. v.' MARTIN DISTORTABLE CIRCLE TIRE 5 sheets-sheet 2Filed Jan. 24, 1944 NNNNN April 13, 1948. J. v. MARTIN DISTORTABLE.CIRCLE -TIRE 1 5 Sheets-Sheet-3 Filed Jan. 24, 1944 4April '13, 1948. J.v. MARTIN 2,439,742

DISTORTABLE CIRCLE TIRE Filed Jan. 24, 1944 5 sheets-sheet 4f Apn'l 13,194s.v

J. V. MARTIN DISTORTABLE CIRCLE TIRE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 24,1944 lll/// I Patented Apr. 13, 1948 Thisinvention relates to -tii'esforvehicles "of y although the typical autobrakesare not shown,

all sorts, but more particularly for aeroplanes andi beingfwell"known"irrlah'ev art."w .41 represents :the automobiles. Theprimaryrobject of th'einven wheelrim' 'and"'5"represents theoutsldeufiemble tion is-to provide a practical and 'safe substitutertreadportionofirriyftire;fijdesighates for the bouncing, skidding andside swaying air 5 centr'alftreadhoop; l indicates-awood or plastic bagsknown as pneumatic tires. i Y y v: A further object of my invention istoprovide" deformable yhoop made up of concenetric hickory a bullet injuryobviatingltype of tire whicl'rcanv stripsorplastichoo'psYS'fittingc-losely Vtogether nner for each"treadhbopfand'o indicates asmaiij be employed in war without the eXtreme vu1ner`"and-bonded"withinuandlinteeral envelope.' ability inherent in aninflated bagtyizaetire.y 10 0f rubbe'rl.' 'IheSSSIIl-'flillV hOOP umts,3 are held A still further object of myinvention is to pro-"-tighl'lyin"theirrelation to tliecenter tread` hOOD vide' a; safe andresilient substitute for inflated' 6 byfmeansfofja rubber luglI'whichlfits" betweei'iv readilyv available non-'critical 'materialssaving VBIODQ 590D@ @lqf'ahfil'yfpn .'13 lQIlvdjSltheA` rubber and SBGL15 "lugs ftogher frllogpeteadloop 5. hdl-fe. Additional objects of'my.invention will readily' lues I4 molded thereo and in these lues arebutnature and constructionV of 'some exemplifyingsnugly-fit.-ffhefnugrless for tthe' .fitr can beuregu-l forms'jof myinvention as shown in the drawings laterwby makig, ,mqldmg .pm, sf91`,.ithe.1ugs Y; annexedr hereto. 20 sm'a.llei"'ir'1v diameteri'thanfthe hickory pm so that Figure 1 'shows my invention in a quadrant sidei" thejj1attrm1$t be'forced into place, usine Soap elevationalview. NWaterm... f Figure2 shows, partly in section, a View taken' A159129?SS}11`?' VI-yjlg-t 01" @bglug H over. Y along-the line 2 2 of Figure 1..and aim'tle 151112111199115 `@theV 'mo1dforthe Figure is a view partlyin section, showing 'one 25 ilugfshollld'be''zed 59' thalijthe rubbercontacting rj of the: small hoop units shown in Figure the Smafuhoop 8must l?"v Compressed before the Figure 4 is a view partly in sectionshowing t lug'il I Cari tbe T fai'ed `iIltO place by hickory' treadhoops,` fillers and lock pin and vindi'catin'f P11113? the smalldistortable circle hoop unitrviewfis 1 V, "48 iflhili'ctedto,the wheel,"taken aiongthe line 4 4 of Figure' 3. 30 YNdlsr; jlbyl'm'ean'sofaclpanip or ,atten'ed U-bolt Figure 5 is a view in sideelevation of an ala-j" l5 and l advise"distributingfthestress ofattachternative construction for my tire assembly, while` 'Slrfdllgted'fashnlm the' compartig' Figure G is a view partly in section takenalong tlvelyllgld WheelV lto the fleXlble ASmall hOODS 8.

the line 6 6 of Figure 5. Y K This can be accoinplished by interposing arubber Figurer 7 is also a view partly in section anfd35 I6orlblerfsvqftenenwithlflatbeafing surfaces, see

takenralong the line 1 1 of Figure 5. 1 Fesloandlpljb Ween the'whe'el landthe' hoops Figure-8 is a View partly in section'taken along and theYline 8 3 of Figure 6 and Figure 8a isa *view o f j 111 Weqg'ffqlfm.L93.' a separaterubber cover for the small hoops, shown and' l?he:11S1de0,f,l10

o rsernihfardf'rubbr or wood i donated' between 'indio-boit c andvalong' 'the sides'of the" in a relaxed condition. d l 40 flattened'id-bolts 'ag nstlhoop see'Figs". `3 and Figure 9 is a view partly insection taken along 'ii' Itis ft 'inrip'ort'ant"to,l havethe stesswelldis!! die une s e of Figure 6. n I' f 4 cdii'gihew rando-otite'intreden-Figurey 10 is a side elevational View of 4rny in-A ib1e` sinallfhopsfdty y vthey willibre'ak down vention= having 20 small distortable'circle'hoop in service'usega "the'poin s where the stress is units andhaving no axle load upon it, while' 45 localized vI havendieated'the'sort of inte;-`

Figure 11 is a view showing the proximate s'hapemediate cushion and"its'x'lbitn at 'IG atl l, Y

taken by the smallerho'ops when under' an eX'-A see Figures 253,;4andmlQvllljjf:1116301901 web treme overload.

Proceeding to the more vdetailed eXplcatiorr` 'or my inventionlikenumeralswill representlike'l neivtmto the wheel! andthe U-bolt i5,parts'throughout the several views. Y Allouter'contactsior hoops 8, suchas the 'rim i is'the vWheel disc of an .automobile whelelf' 4 must besrnlooyth anvdkbroadlandrlat forextrerne' showing `conventionaldemou'ntable means 2 for* lcompre I Qwithngrecurves. attachment toconventionalautofhubs; Y y ,o The"'s'niooth,y broadfandflatsurface,ofrim d 3 sh'oWs'the space reserved for brake'locationf55 where itcontacts the hoops 8 must be carried a maand l very substantial distancelaterally outward on both sides of the clamp |5, see Figs. 2, 3, 4, and

' 6, so as to furnish a non-injurious base for the attened portions of 8when under extreme compression. The same holds good for the outerportions of 8 under heavy compression: note the dotted lines for thispurpose in Fig. 4.

In Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11 I show a slightly modied structure: Onedifference is the use of a hickory or plastic strip I8 to hold the smallhoops in snug contact with the center tread hoop 6, this may be splicedas indicated at 8' in Y Figure 7.

The hickory strip |8 can be bound tightly in place by metal spring steelstraps |9 either cured around the filler l of the center hoop (i or theband I9 can be inserted as a strip through the N Y hoops 8A it can beeliminated and another or broached apertures in the rubber envelope.

The edges of the wood 8 must be preventedY from injuring the hoops 8 bya wedge l1' and the rubber hoop cover l0 and ,by softener |5.v

The most important difference of the latter` ligures over the Figures .1to 4 inclusive lies in the initially stretched web 2| which functions toprevent the over-distortion of the small hoops and to provide yieldableresistance tonearly all distortion. y

It will also be noticed that in place of the 4rubber lugs l2 and |4ofFigure/i, I show lugs |4a on each hoop 5 of Figure 7 and 12a of thecenter hoop 6 for the connections between the tread hoops themselves.Hickory pins |3a,are shown in Figure 7 which have buttons l3b which iitinto pockets similar to the pockets I4 already shown in Figure 4 It willbe observedhow lneat and light weight the new connectionsare.

The rubber webs 2| are provided with ex panded loops 2|' and bifurcatedloops 2|a. These are to be proportioned so as tocarrythe stress g of thethicker web over and round the hoops 8.-

It will be observed that the center portion ofmy webs in vtheir ownradial plane are separated when they are molded so that they maygbestretched apart on the line 2 lb and rings or bands 2|c can hold theparts together after the small hoops 8 have been inserted within thewebs 2|.

Figure. 8a shows thatY the molded size of these webs 2| is considerablysmaller than their stretched state as shown over the hoops 8 after hoopsV3 have been inserted within the webs 2| Figure 8a shows that the moldedsize of these webs 2| is considerably's'mallerkthan their stretchedstate as shown stretched over the hoops 8 in Figures 6, 8 and 9.

One of the most important improvement novel- Y very great as they dowhen ties in the present invention is the arrangement y of multiplehoops within each other and free Yat least to a limited degree vtodeflect throughl a comparatively great ragef: In other words, if onehoop were used to compose the small hoop 8 the strengthv would be muchgreater than desired for the cross section employed or the proportionsrepresented in the drawings, but the range of distortion possiblewithout breaking would be very slight; if however, as shown` inl Figures6 and 8, two hoops S make up the hoop 8, then the range of movement ismore than doubled, while the load carrying ability is not cut in half.Close contact between the hoops is important and bonding a skin ofrubber between hoops 9 will also soften up the ilexing range if therubber skin is thick enough.

This surprise result, i. e., the vast increasing of the range ofpossible deection in the hoop 8 by simply dividing up its series ofhoops 9 bei tween skins of rubber 9', see Fig. 2 (for large scale detailof laminating hickory to rubber I refer to' Fig. 5 of my Patent No.2,331,212, issued October' 5, 194,3) ,so that the same cross section for8 gives us more hoops with less thickness each and the lesser thicknesshoops located inwardly of a thicker hoop, see Figure 2, which showsthree instead of two hoops as 9, also see Figure 3 for cross section.IQlhe inner or smallest of the seriesy of hoops 9 for best results,should 'be of the leastthickness.

Thus it will be seen that by multiplying the number of hoops andreducing their thickness ac.:

'cordingly as they are inwardly located we obtainmore range of movement,but less carrying capacity per hoop. However, since the rubber coverV isnotnecessary all way round the small fourth strip or coil of hickorysubstituted and this will not materially aiect the range of ilexing, butwill much increase the Vload carrying capacity. WhileI recommendmultiplication of layers 9 (see Figure 3) of'hoops Seven to eliminatingthe rubber envelope, I advise retaining rubber adjacent to allconnections of the hoops 8. Whatever clamping means is employed to marrythe small hoops to the 'wheel rim must centralize its most severe stressat only one line on the circumference of the small hoop and very nelygraduate the delivery of such stress until it disappears entirely at theextremity of said clamp.

The practice often seen in the prior art of making a bolt hole oraperture in the spring hoops weakens them at the position most needingstrength.

Tests indicate that .the hoops 8 can be compressed about11; further inrange than they can be pulled, for that reason I discovered anothersurprise result in the combination of distortable circles for a tire, i.e., my combination presents outermost tread hoops 5 and 6 which candistort more on their lower halves because the smaller hoops' withinthem below the axle can be compressed more than the small hoops abovethe axle can be pulled. The small hoops on the sides of the axlebendreadily in reverse curves as indicated in Figure 1l, when the axle loadsbecome hitting bad roads at high speeds.- f Y For an example of how thetread hoops deform under load, see Figure V6 of my Patent Nor 2,331,212,issued October 1943, but bear in. mind that withl the presentimprovement, such' as the small hoops 8 replacing the elastic spokes..the. attening'yo the tread hoops is not so proinounced as with elasticspokes and the vertical.l cross sections lof the tread andcorrespondingly their;V weight can be reduced because the lower arcs ofthe tread hoops are supported by the small hoops in compression. Forprior structures see my Patents Nos. 2,298,142, 2,283,274, and;2,235,378.

The initial tension on the Webs 2|, see Figures 6 and 8a, can be madeanything desired, buf, Carel should be taken not to put so much tensioninto the webs that theypullthe small hoops in the same direction as thestatic loads pull them. In

other words, the static load should just about re lax the tension onthe-web in one direction while increasing the tension` at right anglesthereto..

Those skilled inthe artv will readily understand that the 5 lower smallhoops adjacent the ground in Figure l1 are compressed; the third hoop upfrom the ground Von. each Vside is practically neutral excepting for asmall twisting strain and.

' 5 all the other small hoops,-i.l el, 1'3 out of the twenty shown arein, tension. f Reference is made to Patent No. 1,909,878 of Mayi16,".193,3.: n

Still another surprise result obtained by my novel arrangement of hoopsrwithin hoops is the lateralstrength obtainediromthese verylight weighthoops 8: This is duetothe proportions shown in Figures 2 and 3' mail@.Up of separate small hoops tt'ed Vclosely together. Also the exibleconnections bymeans oi?v lugs between-,the tread hoops themselves andkbetween thace'nter treadhoonand the small hoops .8 arelagfreatadvantage', enabling the treads. to, take 'diiering positionsin theradial planescorresponding to uneven road'su'rfaces.

Having given specific examples of how my invention operates, it will bereadily understood that considerable modications may be made within theproper scope of my invention and what I claim particularly is:

1. In a vehicle wheel and tire combination, a exible tread portion forthe said tire and transversely disposed small hoops yieldably spacingthe said Wheel and tread portion apart, each said small hoop comprisingmultiple strips of hickory bonded to thin layers of rubber and bondedwithin a rubber envelope integral with the said layers of rubber.

2. A wheel rim and resilient tire combination including at least threeiiexible tread hoops, the inner of said hoops resiliently connected atintermediate points around the circle to the said rim and the twolaterally outer of said hoops not having any direct connection to saidrim, but having yieldable connections to said inner hoop, said latterconnections located along the insides of the said tread hoops andbetween the rst said Connections.

3. In combination with a wheel, a tire including a, flexible treadportion, transversely arranged and intermediately spaced hoops yieldablyforming a connection between the said wheel and the said tire treadportion and each of the said hoops provided with rubber across one ofits diameters, whereby said rubber will yieldably resist an increase inthe said diameter.

4. In combination with a wheel rim, a tire having flexible tread hoops,smaller hoops attached to the said tread hoops and yieldab-ly separatingthem from the said rim, each said smaller hoop including two or moreilexible layers and rubber stretched across the diameter of the saidsmaller hoop approximately midway between the said hoop attachment andthe said wheel rim.

5. In combination with a vehicle wheel rim, a tire including sets oflarge and small diameter hoops, the said larger hoops arranged tosurround the said smaller hoops and positioned in planes substantiallytransverse thereto and the said larger hoops provided with a road treadfor the said tire, the said road tread extending laterally beyond theoutermost portions of the said smaller hoops to protect same from curbcontacts; the inner portion of each said smaller hoop attached to thesaid wheel rim.

6. In combination with a wheel rim and a tire, the said tire having acomparatively broad and exible tread portion spaced from the said wheelrim by group of hoops, each said group including at least threeconcentric strips of Wood in circular form, each said group of hoopsclamped to the said rim by l means including material of graduatedhardness, the softer material contacting the said wood strips and thehardest materia1 immediately contacting the said wheel rim.

. 6 'Zi vIn combination witha wheelfriin-and exible tiretread, multiple.1100128Y mail@ @for wooden Strips.: in substantially' Conietlgirles. andadapted; tiilldebly .f .30.6 v the Seid, rim'v and tread apart; luid'v1138339.16. 'lmplig ,means oi "progressiveIy harder materialsiorminethesonneCi-ienrof eiih sardfseries of hoops tothe -saidwheel rim,the'saidmeansfadapted 'to ,deliver wheel; stresses in aigraduatedmanerto the. 'Said h'OOPSn both tension and. iconipressipnlo'adines.

'i3-A .wheel 'rmir and@ vehicle tire; including' distorta-ble tread'hoops in parallel planes and smaller distortable hoops arranged'inplanes substantiallyratwrightnngles thereto and yieldably spacing saidtread hoops from the said wheel rim, graduated stress delivering clampsincluding materials of increasing hardness surrounding the innermostparts of each said smaller hoop, whereby the maximum distortion of saidsmaller hoops within practical working limits can be obtained incompression, tension and in twisting movements and the said clamps andadjacent bearing surfaces for contact of the said hoops beingsubstantially flat, whereby recurving of said hoops under exing will beprevented.

9. A vehicle wheel rim and tire combination wherein the said rimpresents substantially iiat surfaces to contact distortable hoopsclamped to the center of the said rim by a clamp means extending fromsaid rim around the sides and over the insides of each said hoops andincluding materials of graduated hardness and a tapering wedge as a partof said clamp to graduate the stress of said clamp to the said inside ofeach said hoop and the said rim providing substantially fiat bearingsurfaces for contact of the said hoops, whereby, on extreme flexing,recurves in said hoops will be prevented.

10. A wheel rim and resilient tire tread combination wherein the saidrim and tread are interconnected `by flexible hoops and the outermostportion of the said rim provided at intervals with flat cushionsadjacent each of its said connections to the said hoops, whereby thesaid hoops when under compression, within practical working limits, willhave rim support for .their flattened out portions without taking areverse curve.

11. A wheel rim and tire combination wherein the said rim is providedwith multiple iiattened portions and the tire includes a exible treadportion spaced apart from the said iiattened portions by multiple unitsof hoops arranged in concentric form within each other, the hoops ofsmaller diameter being of less thickness than the next larger diameterhoop and the largest of the said hoops in each unit adapted underworking compression loads to atten out in contact with the said attenedrim portions.

12. A wheel rim and tire combination including sets of inner and outerflexible hoops, the said outer hoops provided with a ground engagingrubber-like tread and each of said inner hoops composed of multipleflexible concentric rings attached as a unit to the said outer hoops andalso to the said wheel rim, one of the said rings differing in thicknessfrom the others.

13. In combination with a wheel rim, a, tire having flexible treadhoops, smaller hoops resiliently intervening between said tread hoopsand wheel rim, said smaller hoops attached to the said tread hoops and,through a cushion, attached to the said wheel rim, each of said smallerhoops composed of a series of rings held in laminated relationship toeach other by the said JAMES v,

, limFEREN( :Esv CITED The vf'oliowin,references me of record in the nieof thispatent:

V'UN'I'IEn STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Ashley Aug.'23, 1892 PeckJan. 7,1902 Wills Mar. 19, 1918 Thompson- July 16,1918 Schnittker Nov.12, 1918 James Jan. 6, 1920 Anderson Feb. 21, 1928 Martin May 19, 1942

